President Karolos Papoulias said on Sunday that Turkey needs a “real domestic revolution” if it is going to fulfill its goal of becoming a member of the European Union. Speaking after a visit to a military unit in Evros in northeastern Greece, Papoulias said Greece hoped Ankara had the “necessary will” to carry through the reforms it needs to join the EU. The president said he hoped that greater stability in the region would lead to Greece spending less on its defense budget. “We look forward to the day when, instead of buying arms, we will be able to use this money to support people on low incomes,” Papoulias said. He added Greece was a “force for peace and stability” in the wider region.

Politicians and journalists yesterday paid tribute to Titos Kontopoulos, a respected reporter on political and defense affairs, who died on Saturday at the age of 45 in London, where he had been undergoing treatment for cancer. Defense Minister Evangelos Meimarakis described Kontopoulos as “a fighter, just and serious... a real master of his subject.” Kontopoulos had been working for the Ethnos newspaper.

Police in Athens were searching yesterday for the driver of a car which struck and killed a Pakistani national in the early hours of the morning. The unnamed man died after the car hit him on Athinon Avenue. The driver did not stop, police said. No description of the car or the driver was given but officers said the accident happened at 1.30 a.m. and the vehicle was heading toward Corinth. Meanwhile, one person was killed and three more injured yesterday afternoon when a car driven by a foreign national crashed into the back of another vehicle. The second car had stopped at a set of traffic lights outside the old airport in southern Athens, police said, without naming anyone involved.

A 75-year-old man was recovering from shock and minor burns last night after a fire broke out at the Thessaloniki retirement home where he was living, authorities said. The blaze at the Harisio retirement home in the Toumba area of the city started yesterday morning but was extinguished soon after 10 fire engines arrived on the scene. The pensioner was rescued by staff but suffered minor burns to his hands. Firefighters said they believed the blaze was caused by a short circuit.